Willow's Love Song
by youkomazuki
Summary: Saved by an enemy's illusionist, the ex-Arcobaleno Mammon was unable forget that sorrowful smile. When they meet years later again, their roles were reversed. Only this time...that smile that perked his interest no longer exist. MammonXOC


_In this world…there is no such thing as a __coincident__. _

_There is only fate._

_Every living being in this world is bounded by a string of fate. _

_Whether bounded to an object…or another being. _

_Everything that has happened is all meant to be. _

_Today's story…is about two who are connected by what we known as fate. _

_By two encounters which brought them together…_

_**It all started 7 years ago. **_

The Vongola Headquarter was under a surprise attack of the Manunta Family, one of Vongola's top alliance Families. There was never such thing as a _treaty _to them. Since the day the alliance was built, it was all part of their plots. They had plotted to attack during the meetings of both bosses…however, the day before their plan; the Vongola's Intelligence Agency received a message. The sender was unknown. All was written within the message was:

_Overthrow Vongola_

With the spy placed within the Vongola's Headquarter, the enemy family discovered their plan that was put to a fail. Knowing they won't get another chance as such, the head of the Manunta Family gathered all his families and launched a surprise attack during the cool autumn night…

"**VOI!** Mammon! I need your illusions here! Mammon are you listening? Mammon!"

Squalo, the Strategy Captain of the Vongola's assassination team, Varia, screamed through the microphone while fending off the intense attacks. "Mammon!" Squalo screamed again, quickly ducking a bullet before slashing his opponent in two. "Tch, useless thing!" Squalo snapped impatiently before quickly pulling out his box weapon. Meanwhile, in the Northern wing, the entire building was destroyed, turned into ruins.

Under the pile of rubble, there laid a baby. The Arcobaleno, Viper, who now goes by the name of Mammon. He lied there, immobilized by the miasma that runs within the purplish air. There were tiny of blue spots growing over his cheeks…the dead skin cells that were poisoned by the miasma. "D-Damn it…" Mammon coughed as he struggled to move, but could not.

"Mu…To be taken out like this…"

Mammon cursed before feeling his eyelids sliding down his eyes. Unable to fight against the miasma, he slowly found himself loosing his consciousness. Not long after he fainted, the miasma in the air started gathering right near the sealed door. They twirled around, compressing against together to form a dark globe. Then the dark globe burst apart, the silhouette of a person was revealed.

A young girl…about the age of 18 emerged from the miasma.

A girl with long yellowish-orange hair and scarlet eyes that illuminated in the darkness like pools of blood. She wore a long, blood red scarf around her neck, her body wrapped in white cheongsam, indicating her Chinese origin. There was a silver mask covering the bottom half of her faces, protecting her body from the thick layers of miasma.

She slowly looked around, looking over the bodies lying scattered in this sealed place. Her eyes softened as she started at all the motionless bodies. When she turned, her eyes widened over the tiny body of the baby stuck under the rubble. The girl dragged her feet, slowly making her way to the baby before kneeling down as though to take a closer look.

Water started dwell within her eyes as she started at the tiny little body. She hesitated, but slowly reached her hand down before brushing her fingers by Mammon's soft little cheek. Feeling the gentle touch, Mammon was immediately woken as he winced in pain. Upon seeing the reaction from the baby, the woman released a soft gasp as she quickly withdrew her hand from shock. Surely, she had thought this child would be all the same as the other bodies scattered around her.

"A…An enemy…h-huh…?"

Mammon winced as the woman's eyes widened more. With her delicate looking hands, she quickly removed the rubble from the baby. Once she cleared everything off Mammon, she carefully picked him into her arms. She took a deep breath before tearing the mask off her face and tied it over Mammon. Feeling the fresh air entering his system, Mammon gave out a couple of heavy coughs as his suddenly felt his body becoming lighter. "W…Who are…" Mammon was about to say, but stopped when he felt something warm dripping over his little cheeks. When he glanced up, he found the girl crying.

For the first time, Mammon was unable to say anything. He even had forgotten what he had intended to ask. He just weakly rested within her arms, staring at himself through the reflection of those scarlet eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her scarlet eyes showing nothing but bitterness. The girl held Mammon tightly before she quickly climbed onto her felt. But the minute she took a step, she staggered and crashed onto the ground. She started coughing heavily as parts of her skin started to turn bluish.

The girl struggled as she tried her best to move, but couldn't due to the heavy miasma. Then that moment, the sound of explosion was heard from the other side of the wall. At that, the girl's eyes widened as she quickly put all her strength into her legs and forced herself up. She crawled…she weakly crawled to a pile of rubble. Hollowing out the inside of the stack of fallen pieces of ceiling, she carefully placed Mammon in. Just when she finished nearly covering him up, the door behind her was forcefully kicked open.

When she weakly turned, she found men pouring in. Men all wearing masks over their faces and dressed in white suits. "The Northern Wing is completely destroyed, over." The leading men spoke into his microphone before turning and laying his eyes onto the girl. "Qiu Ling, what are you doing slacking off here? If you have time to rest, help out in the other teams!" The man snapped impatiently as the girl collapsed onto the ground, unable to move any longer.

"She's poisoned."

Another man pointed out as the leader of the team walked over. "Poisoned?" He snorted. Then he mercilessly nailed his feet right into the girl's side. That moment, the girl's mouth opened…as though screaming out in pain…but her voice didn't come out. Within the piles of rubble, Mammon laid, staring at the scene the entire time through the tiny gaps.

"You worthless brat! You even lost your mask?"

Mammon watched as the man kept stomping over that fragile body. She lied there, unable to do anything but giving out silent cry one after another. It was then when Mammon realized…this girl, she's muted. Because of the poison still running in his system, he was still unable to move. All Mammon could do was rested by and witnessed the brutal beating, one after another. By the time the man was done, the girl's body was completely battered. She was completely covered with bruise and blood. There are even several bones that had been shattered during the beating.

Mammon watched as the man grabbed the girl roughly by her hair and forcefully pulled her up. Then with a flung, he threw the girl right to the wall before she crashed down onto the hard cold floor. "Take that trash and leave! There doesn't seem to be survivors here." The leader said as he walked towards the group.

"Sir! Just now Team C had called for support in Vongola's Eastern Wing!"

A man reported as the leader of the group cursed. "Damn these Vongolas! Hurry and get moving!" He shouted before hurrying passed the group. One of the men then grabbed the girl, ruthlessly throwing her over his shoulder before they all exit through the door. Before they left, Mammon caught those pair of scarlet eyes, staring right at him. Despite all the beating…for some reason, those eyes were laughing. The eyes that were just crying out in bitter pain were now laughing…as though in laughing in relieve.

As a top illusionist who could see through lies, it was something Mammon could not understand. Why was she smiling when she was treated no better than live stocks? He didn't know…he couldn't understand it. Because he was unable to understand, that smile haunted him even to this day.

The battle with the Manunta Family ended 16 hours later with the Vongola Family victorious. Many were poisoned by Manunta Family's miasma. But thank to the antidote found within Mammon's mask, they were fortunate to escape death. Later that very night, not even waiting for his injuries to recover, Mammon searched through the data base the Vongola had of the Manunta Family in order to search for the girl.

Even to this day, Mammon still claims that he had no idea why he did that…

The next day after the battle…the Manunta Family vanished.

They burnt their headquarter and everything that was connected to them into the ground and disappeared from the our world.

They weren't heard of ever since.

Two years later…and 3 months after the curse of Arcobaleno was lifted upon the strongest 7 infants, they met again.

Mammon was walking down a street, returning from his mission. It was a stormy day of December with black cloud covering the sky. It was then when he found her when he crossed an alley. There she laid…lying lifelessly on the cold ground. Her ragged body was frozen hard and covered in frost bites. Mammon stood, staring at her before slowly down the lonely street. His glazes then shifted back to the girl, as though pondering hard on what to do. He didn't know why, but he ended up gathering the girl's stiff body into his arms and hurried back to the Vongola's Headquarter for treatment. Perhaps somewhere within his heart, he was grateful. Grateful for this woman who lent a hand to him, even though he always denies it.

Thanked to Mammon, her life was saved.

Had she be frozen longer, she would have surely died. Whenever he had the free time, Mammon would go to the medical department to visit the girl and staying by her side. She slept, for 4 days until on the 5th night, she woke. Naturally, she would not remember Mammon, whom she saved, for that the Mammon was no longer the Arcobaleno she knew. Or perhaps, she never knew that child she saved was even an Arcobaleno. When she saw Mammon, she gave out a silent scream…and tears started overflowing down her cheeks. Her eyes that once held reflection has become dull…lifeless. The only emotion emitting out of her was nothing but pure fear.

Fear…at the illusionist before her eyes.

When the doctors analyzed her, they discovered that she had became mentally unstable.

Qiu Ling was her name. In Italian or Japanese…that would literally mean _Autumn Forest_. It was found that she has been abused since young during her childhood, since the first day she was taken in by the Manunta Family. She had lived through the life being punching bag for other members of the Family. She took nothing but thorough beating everyday. It wasn't stated when, but just at some point, she stopped crying. Her voices perished since then and never spoken again. It was believed that she screamed so much that her voice worn itself out. As I dug further into her background, more and more interesting yet cruel information was gathered of her. Apparently, during the battle 2 years ago, she was the one who leaked information to the Vongola's system. And all the opponents she faced, she never killed a single one. When her betray was discovered, she was brutally tortured. Her entire body carried scars of all sorts. Burnt…whips…bullets…swords…any weapons that you could name, her body has it all. They had blamed her for the failures…and after they were through with her, they tossed her outside for her to die, either from starvation or coldness.

And now…she developed fear for other beings.

She wouldn't let anyone touches her…goes near her…or even speaks to her…

She had completely isolated herself.

Strangely enough, Mammon was never bothered by that. Knowing he couldn't count on his boss, Xanxus, he came to the Vongola Headquarter…coming to me. When I discovered the situation, I agreed into taking her into my Family. Everyday, Qiu Ling isolated herself within her room, refusing to open the door. She refused to eat so little that at times, they would have to forcefully charge into her room, knock her out and insert liquid food to keep her body going. And everyday, Mammon would be seen, sitting in front of Qiu Ling's doors, speaking…as though to himself.

Whenever Mammon had the time, he would drop by and spoke of so many things. His missions…the people of Varia…money….everything. What he most commonly spoke of was illusions. Perhaps it was because Qiu Ling too was an illusionist…so it was highly likely that they would have common topic.

He repeated his daily routine…night after night, day after day.

Then…one day…the door opened.

After months and months, Qiu Ling finally opened the door…only a tiny gap so that she could peer out at the one who always spoke to her. And as time passed, that gap of the door widened. And soon…Mammon became the first to be allowed into her room, although she would still keep a fair distance from him.

As time passes, 11 meters of distance at first evolved into 9…then 6…then to 3 meters…

Then one day… Qiu Ling finally spoke through her pen.

_Why are you being kind to me?_

That was the very first sentence Qiu Ling had given him. However, Mammon never gave her a reply. He never told her; how he was that baby she saved. Perhaps he found it embarrassing…being saved by the enemy's illusionist, and a female on top of that. But which ever his reasons were…he never told her and perhaps never will.

Through the years, great changes were seen over Qiu Ling.

The reflections returned to her once lifeless eyes. Her face began to hold more expressions and she began writing back to Mammon through paper and pen more and more often. With Mammon by her side, Qiu Ling was soon able to leave her room, to interact with the reality outside. Although she still kept a distanced from people other than Mammon she was slowly but surely changing.

Every second…every minute…every hour…and every passing day.

She would-

"**Tsuna."**

"Huh? Reborn, when did you get here?"

I said with soft surprise as I quickly pulled my glaze from my laptop to see the tall man, black haired man standing by the doorway. He took a couple steps aside and revealed Qiu Ling who was standing behind him. "You have guest." Reborn stated as I quickly got up. "Qiu Ling." I said as Qiu Ling gave Reborn a nervous glance before making her way over to me. Keeping a safe distance, she pulled out a folder containing some of Varia's reports.

"Ah, thank you."

I said and at that, a faint smile crossed Qiu Ling's lips. Once I took the documents off her, Qiu Ling backed away slightly. "Ah, wait." I quickly called, stopping Qiu Ling just when she was about to turn and leave. Going over to my desk, I put aside the document before picking up the package lying at the corner. "It's snacks. The girls made these for you." I said with a smile as Qiu Ling stared from me to the package. She stared, as though hesitating for a while before she slowly reached her hands out. I just held it up to her, waiting patiently as I watched Qiu Ling's hands going back and forth. Then seeming to had gathered up her courage, she quickly took the package before backing up a bit to keep her usual distance from me.

Now, her worried expression melted into a soft smile. She hugged the package in her arms, smiling such gentle smile that it would be hard for anyone to believe she's actually part of Varia. Qiu Ling then quickly bowed, showing how grateful she was. Giving me one last glance, she quickly turned and ran off. "You scared her away." I heard Reborn said from behind me as I watched Qiu Ling disappeared around the corner before chuckling. "That's not true, Reborn." I said but when I turned, I found Reborn sitting at my desk, looking over my laptop I was working on.

"What are you writing here, Tsuna?"

Reborn asked as I walked toward the window and leaned against the transparent glass. "Ah…just s documentary of sort. I need to keep updates on my Family after all." I replied and at that, Reborn smirked. "You're finally acting more and more like a boss, my stupid pupil." He stated as I smiled before slowly peered out of the window. Below, I could see it…the ex-Arcobaleno, standing underneath a tree, waiting patient.

"Everyone from Varia helped me. Especially Belphegor and Lussuria. Though I think they really enjoyed teasing Mammon about this."

I said to Reborn's earlier comments before laughing weakly at the memories of when I talked to those two. "Don't forget the meeting in 5 minutes." Reborn reminded, picking up the documents Qiu Ling brought in as I smiled. I walked over to my laptop and gently closed it. Then grabbing my suit, I started heading for the door with Reborn behind me…

"I know."

I replied, before glancing back at the sunlight beaming through the window. Strong and warm sunlight…A light that can be felt only after a storm.

"I guess I'll continue it after I get back."

And with that, I walked out of my workroom with Reborn behind me.

xxXxx

"M-Mammon…."

A soft, sweet voice called softly as Mammon slowly glanced up to see Qiu Ling running out of the Vongola Headquarter and over to him. "You're late. Time is money you know." Mammon said as he straightened himself up. Though Mammon said that, his voice contained no impatient or irritated attitude towards the female illusionist at all.

"I'm…sorry…"

"…What is that?"

Mammon asked when he noticed the package resting in Qiu Ling's arms. "S-Snacks...Tsunayoshi-san….gave….from Kyoko-chan…Haru-chan and I-pin…chan…and Chrome-" Before Qiu Ling could finish her sentence, she fell onto her knees. She quickly clapped her hands over her lips as she broke into a series of coughs.

Upon seeing that, Mammon quickly came to her side. He held her, rubbing her back gently until her coughs ceased. "You've already spoke enough for today, don't speak anymore." Mammon said as he carefully helped Qiu Ling up. Very slowly, Qiu Ling replied with a soft nod. "Mu…taking useless things like these. They're not even worth much to sell." Mammon commented and hearing that made Qiu Ling's face paled. She clenched onto the package tighter before backing away a bit.

"Hn, I'm not going to sell it, relax."

Mammon said before gently taking her hand. "…Either way, let's get going." He said before dragging Qiu Ling off. As they walked down the forest path, Qiu Ling stared at Mammon's back…then to her hand that he held. Very slowly, a soft smile grew upon her lips. She gently leaned against Mammon and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth she felt coming from him. With her eyes closed…she could hear it…the voices of the forest. The wind…the chirps of birds, the rustles of leaves…and the two's footsteps.

She then felt something warm and soft...pressing down upon her lips. A hand was sliding up her cheek…caressing her as another gentle breeze blew by…


End file.
